Cardinals game

A couple weeks ago, we left Walker with some friends and took the girls to a Cardinals game.
Tickets: $0.47
Hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn and ice cream: $30
Memories: priceless!

Ukrainian Red Borscht Soup

This little guy just finished eating this (minus the sausage (didn't want to include) and cabbage (didn't have on hand)).  He couldn't get enough of it!  He had three helpings for supper two nights in a row and then finished off the leftovers for lunch the next day.  Mommy and Daddy thought it was really delicious too!  Thank you to Uncle Micah and Aunt Jamie for sharing their beets.  Today we made some yummy chocolate cupcakes with beets in them.

Sharing summer sweets

Peach picking

Aunt Ali came to stay with us for a week back in early August and we went peach picking at Eckerts!

Three cute farmgirls

Taking a little break on the Gator from feeding calves with Aunt Ali on Memorial Day weekend

Backblogged: Cora's 3rd birthday - December 18, 2010

You may notice a theme.

Yellow miniature roses

[Yellow] Pumpkin soup

 Homemade dinner rolls made with lard (one of Cora's favorites)

 Yellow cake with yellow frosting and homemade yellow ice cream

 The birthday girl in a yellow shirt with a yellow ponytail holder...

 ...(who does NOT like to be the center of attention)...

 ...but with a little help from her older (but not bigger) sister, she was able to get the candles blown out.

 Hiding behind a pile of yellow presents, which included...

 a yellow Funshine Care Bear costume...

 yellow tennis shoes (because she still insisted on wearing only her yellow crocs)...

 yellow memo pads and colored pencils... among other things.

 [I adore this hair, these eyelashes, cheeks and lips.]

 ...all followed by a nap with Grandma Gwennie.  Sounds like a pretty fun third birthday!

And I just had to capture this on video.  I think that by "at" Miriam actually meant "for"  :)

A first...

I painted our girls' toenails for the first time today.  Cousin Naomi had her toenails painted when we were all together a week ago and Cora has been asking me to paint hers ever since.  As you'll see from the picture, there was obviously no pedicure involved... we actually painted their nails at the playground so Walker was adequately entertained.  The pretty toenails quickly got scuffed up and the feet got dirty, but that's perfectly okay with this mommy!

And here's this guy just because he's cute.

Who says we have a sinful nature?

This evening our whole family was just sitting around the living room hanging out. The girls were on the couch reading a book and Walker was next to them playing with a balloon. After a while, Walker made his way to Miriam and leaned in to bite Miriam's leg, but Steph scolded him before he could complete the task. Even though she never got bit, Miriam attempted to retaliate. Here's how that went:

Steph to Miriam: Miriam! Don't bite Walker!
Miriam: I wasn't. I was just closing my mouth and Walker's arm got in the way.

That. Is. Classic.

Weekend at Grandma & Grandpa Steele's

New kitchen table

We had a local cabinet maker build us a table and bench recently to match some chairs we already had. Here is the finished product.  

Table for five outside, please

We've been blessed to have had several opportunities to eat outside on our patio this "spring".  It's nice because don't have to vacuum under the table after mealtime.  And we don't yell at our kids to keep their dirty hands off the furniture as much either.  They think we eat outside to enjoy the weather.  I think we do it so that our sinful nature isn't AS obvious.

Walker's new fort

Walker has a new place to get away from the daily abuse the girls impose on him.  He thinks it is pretty sweet until he latches the door which only opens from the outside.

Sisters

And the favorite color is...

Back in August (before we were sure the favorite color would really stick), we got Cora a pair of yellow crocs.  As is evidenced below, she was elated.  The problem then became that the weather got colder and she wouldn't wear anything else on her feet.  We fixed that at her birthday... but that wasn't until mid-December.

She insisted on wearing the new crocs to bed that first night, so here she is (probably dreaming of yellow).

An explanation

You see... the reason I don't get more blogging done is because I am constantly monitoring absolutely every action of each of my three children... as is evidenced by the photo below.

I also want to draw the attention to the fact that there are multiple colors present.  This was not a single incident.  We all learn slowly; maybe the initial punishment wasn't severe enough.  :)

Backblogged: Miriam's 4th birthday

For those of you still gracious enough to be checking our blog, thank you and I'm sorry.  I feel like I'm always apologizing about being behind.  But even if no one ever looks at this, I want to have this record of what has been going on in our lives at this stage.  Thanks to the encouragement of a sweet friend who is catching up her blog, I am less embarrassed about how far behind I really am here.  Anyway... I wanted to document and share a few things about Miriam's 4th birthday back on October 13, 2010.

Miriam picked a treat from our Fairies Cookbook (Thank you Aunt Hannah):

Marshmallow Pops 

(I intentionally left out the additional fairy-esque part of the name)

 Those of you who know me well know that I have basically NO creative ability or artistic tendencies, so this was a big leap for me.  I was really pleased with how they turned out.  While I was making them (during naptime, of course!), God gently reminded me of how when I was pregnant with Miriam I didn't feel like I knew how to be a mommy to a girl.  For some reason, I'd always pictured myself as a mommy of boys.  So, as God always does in his perfect wisdom, he blessed me with two girls before I became a mommy of a boy. And then He showed me that even I - in my uncreativeness and unartisticness - can make Fairy Princess Marshmallow Pops for a 4th birthday party.

Then we used a pie pumpkin from our CSA as a base for four pops holding one candle each.

 Isn't she precious!

 Boring presents from Mommy and Daddy... clothes and shoes!  ;)

 

The next day, Miriam received a special delivery from Grandma and Grandpa - 4 big pink roses complete with a pink polka dot ribbon!

That weekend, Grandma and Grandpa Steele came for a visit and we had a real birthday cake to celebrate.  Those are the birthday girl's four little fingers in the picture - totally by accident!

Sweet pad

Daddy brought a huge, sturdy cardboard box home from work a couple weeks ago, installed a door and a window and the kids have been having a blast with it.  It's big enough that all 5 of us can fit in..... if we're in the mood to cuddle.

 Peering out the door

Picture taken through the window from the outside

Miriam swats away an unwanted potential home invader

Daddy's little helper

Daddy, did you say you needed the 7/16" wrench or the 1/2" wrench?  They put these things in here so tight you have to stand on the whole thing to get a single wrench out!

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!

Disclaimer: Walker does not have a permanent blemish between his eyes.  It's just that he consistently takes so many tumbles that you can always count on a bruise/scab/mark of some sort either between his eyes or on his forehead at all times. (And for those of you who notice, yes, I realize that 'always' and 'at all times' in the same sentence is redundant but I'm choosing overemphasis instead of proper gramatics.)  ;)

Happy 4th Birthday, Miriam!

We love you, sweetheart!!!